The “Greatest” Migration

The wildebeest have arrived. And when I say “arrived,” I mean they are EVERYWHERE. Literally within a few days they have populated every open plane here in the Mara triangle. The hardest part about the migration is trying to describe it to people that aren’t here in the Mara.


I try to take pictures of large herds of wildebeest and zebra, but they never quite exude the all-encompassing feel/view of what the migration really is. Fortunately, I was able to see a river crossing a couple of weeks ago. To describe it in one word: chaos.


Driving back from a trip to view hyenas, we saw a huge cloud of dust over the river. Being with someone who works for the Mara Conservancy, we were quickly informed that a crossing was taking place. Apparently the wildebeest (being a herd animal) will slowly gather and progress on the landscape until they hit some kind of immovable area (i.e. a river). When this happens, they will build and build until the sheer number of wildebeest in that confined area reach a breaking point. At this moment, they will start moving down the wall of the river and back up again until a lone wildebeest makes a “definitive” movement to the water.

Even if he was going down to get a drink of water, once the rest of the herd feels the mood of the situation changing, they begin to follow the lone wildebeest out front. And after this, the sheer momentum of the crossing takes over the entire herd. Almost like someone pulling the plug out of a bathtub, once you start a crossing, there is nothing stopping it.

Except a lion. Or more precisely, a lioness.

Here is a movie of the exact crossing that I was describing. Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/5489643

Siafu Invasion!

Alright, I know what you’re thinking.

“David…you live in the bush, aren’t there some things that aren’t so great about being surrounded by wildlife and things that can eat you? All you’ve written about so far are the amazing wildlife and relaxing camp life. Isn’t there anything that you don’t like about being in the bush?”

Of course this is true (see photos of amazing chameleon that walked through camp today and the start of the “great” wildebeest migration; and yes, those are all wildebeest in the background).




However, earlier this week we had a Siafu invasion. First, let me explain to you what Siafu are. Literally I think it translates to “safari ant” in kiSwahili. Basically they are these ants that form lines throughout camp and head off on a safari elsewhere.

And then they bite.


I’ve heard that some local Masai actually use Siafu as a natural way of stitching a wound back together. You place the Siafu at the locality of the wound, let it bite on with its death-grip like pincers, and tear off the body so the head stays in place.

I’m not entirely sure if this is actually practiced, or if they are just messing with me (they do this a lot, like when they tell me how to say a word in kiSwahili and it’s not anywhere close to the actual translation). Either way, when these suckers bite on, it’s darn near impossible to pull them off.


The worst part is, they come at such infrequent times that you forget completely about them and then find yourself standing in one of their lines, becoming entirely covered before you even know what hit you.